Transgender Trenton man allegedly assaults Morrisville cop

MORRISVILLE Pa. — Trying to figure out a man’s name during a traffic stop led to a foot chase and a physical confrontation between a city man and a Morrisville police officer Thursday morning, according to Morrisville Police.

Around 1:20 a.m., Officer Brad Smeltzer was patrolling near the 600 block of North Delmorr Avenue when he noticed a suspicious silver Lincoln Town Car. Smeltzer asked for the driver’s licenses of both the driver and the passenger, Dwayne Kelly, 30, which the driver provided but Kelly said he did not have any identification on him and provided the name “Dewayne Kelly” without a middle initial.

The officer ran both names and the driver had a valid license with no warrants, but he could not find a record for Kelly.

At this point, Smeltzer suspected that Kelly was providing a fake name to police and another officer, Bill Smith, arrived as back up. Smith asked Kelly to give his name and he again said “Dewayne Kelly” without a middle initial. According to a probable cause affadivit, when Smith asked Kelly if he specifically had a driver’s license, he allegedly became agitated and said “I am transgender.”

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The officers explained that Kelly’s gender was not the issue at hand, but the fact that he claimed to have a New Jersey driver’s license, yet police could not find a record of it. Kelly said he had a driver’s license, but it was at his home in Trenton.

Kelly was ordered out of the car and police searched his handbag for identification. According to the affidavit, there were several ID’s for “Dwayna” Kelly, but Smith pointed out a Georgia EBT card with Kelly’s real name, including his middle initial. Kelly then allegedly attempted to flee from police, with Smith and Smeltzer giving chase. Smith caught up to Kelly and the affidavit says the suspect was “screaming and aggressively fighting” with Smith, who sprayed Kelly with pepper spray. Kelly continued to fight with Smith even after being sprayed, finally surrendering after Smith put Kelly on the ground and Smeltzer threatened to shoot him with a Taser.

Inside the police car, Kelly continued to scream and bang his head against the rear driver’s side window. He has been charged with assault of a law enforcement officer, simple assault, providing false identification to law enforcement, disorderly conduct, harassment and resisting arrest. At the end of the affidavit, it was noted that Kelly has had previous run-ins with police involving resisting arrest, eluding, prostitution and assault.

According to Pennsylvania and New Jersey court records, Kelly has been arrested five times prior to Thursday’s incident. He served three years in prison on a robbery conviction in Montgomery County and had previous theft arrests in Bucks, Mercer and Monmouth Counties.

This is not the Morriseville Police Departments, specifically Smeltzer’s, first encounter with a gender-bending suspect. In October of 2012, Shawn Maliek Gale, 22, of Philadelphia, allegedly gave an ID to Smeltzer identifying himself as a woman while wearing women’s clothes. Gale also allegedly hit Smeltzer in the face with his own handcuffs and tried to take the officer’s gun. He had to be tazed three times before police could bring him into custody.